Former Maguindanao governor Sajid Islam Ampatuan has been convicted of multiple counts of graft and falsification of public documents in connection with various anomalous transactions entered into by the provincial government in 2009.
Thirteen members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters , five of them said to be experts in bombmaking, have surrendered and pledged allegiance to the government.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) will create two provincial police offices with corresponding sets of officers and positions in Maguindanao following the results of the plebiscite over the weekend that divided it into two provinces. National Police chief General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said police offices would be created in Maguindanao…
MANILA - Nearly all the 80.84 percent of Maguindanao's registered voters agreed to ratify a law seeking to divide the province into two during a plebiscite held on Saturday. In a statement on Sunday, Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said the figure was based on official plebiscite municipal canvass of votes. Laudiangco said the Maguindanao split plebiscite's 80.84 percent voter turnout was second to the record set in 1998 referendum that created Compostela Valley from Davao Del Norte at 89.73 percent. "As it stands, this Maguindanao plebiscite will have the second highest voter turnout for province-wide plebiscites," he said. He, however, said in terms of total number of registered voters and total number of voters who actually voted at 712,857 out of 881,790, "this is the most participated-in plebiscite, province/city/municipality wide." He said 707,651 or 99.27 percent voted 'yes' while only 5,206 or 0.73 percent r